Farewell Reception for
Shaykh Muhammad Khatry

May 11, 1997 - Santa Clara Mosque, California.

On Saturday evening, between salat al-Maghrib and
salat al-'Isha, a farewell function was held to honor Shaykh
Muhammad Khatry of Mauritania. An scholar of Ahl as-Sunna
belief, Shaykh Khatry has spent the last nine months in the San
Francisco Bay Area, teaching Maliki fiqh and Ash`ari `aqida
to numerous students from the many mosques in the area. Shaykh
Khatry is one of the teachers of Imam Hamza Yusuf of the Muslim
Community Association of Santa Clara. Shaykh Khatry
travelled to the US at the request of Shaykh Hamza, when the
latter was spending a lengthy sojourn in Mauritania with his
shaykh. During his stay in the Bay Area, Muslims took advantage
of both his knowledge and his light, spending time in private
association with him as well as in classes and listening to his
Jumu`ah sermons. As-Sunna Foundation of America was
pleased that Shaykh Khatry was able to deliver Jumu`ah khutba at Masjid
at-Tawheed and hopes that Shaykh Khatry will return soon to
the area.

Imam Hamza Yusuf of the Santa
Clara mosque, talks with Shaykh Khatry. On his left is
br. Basil, who also traveled to Mauritania to spend time
with Imam Hamza's shaykh.

At the farewell function, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of As-Sunna
Foundation, spent a considerable time discussing with Shaykh
Khatry the situation in Mauritania. The two-hundred or so
attendees were treated to a slide-show by Shaykh Hamza, detailing
his extensive travel and sojourn in the desert of Mauritania.
Shown was the very simple lifestyle of these Beduin scholars.
Shaykh Hamza's shaykh, photogaphed for the first time in his
life, is a clear examplar of the Sunna, displaying an obvious nur
(spiritual light) in his visage of 80 years of age. An
'encyclopedia' of Islamic knowledge, the shaykh has spent his
entire life in the Mauritanian desert, teaching all who come to
attend his majlis [lit. 'sitting'].

Displayed in the slide-show were the students, mostly young
men, and occasionally a woman, who come to the desert to focus
and prepare themselves for lives of scholarship, da`wah
and devotion to Allah. Dressed in light blue robes and wrapping
their heads with huge turbans, these young men and their elderly
shaykhs are clear examples of the Sunnah of the Prophet (s).
Their "dormitories" consist of simple tents and their
mosque is simply a swept piece of earth with an awning for shade.
They have no books whatsoever. The land they live in is harsh in
the extreme, with no tree or even hill to shade them.
Transportation is by foot, donkey or camel. Water must be
sought--every day.

The students, who come from all around Africa, write their
lessons on a tablet of wood, known as a lawha, in humble
imitation of the Preserved Tablets in the Divine Presence. The
lesson is memorized by repetition, the count being kept on a
simple tasbih, as adept students know how the precise
number of repetitions it takes to memorize the lawha.
After having memorized it, counting either 33 or 50 or 100
repetitions, the students erase the tablet, to begin the next
lesson. Thus, the lessons are memorized perfectly, in much the
manner of Imam Malik's students, and following the identical
manner of transmission from teacher to student, who in turn will
pass on the teaching to his students when he has received the 'ijaza
to teach.

Shaykh Hisham bids Shaykh Khatry
a fond farewell.

It is such schools, of devoted and sincere students,
practicing what they learn and purifying themselves of this
worldly life, from whence Islam was spread--in sub-Saharan
Africa, northern Africa, Central Asia, India, all of southeast
Asia, China, southern Europe and finally now, in the Americas.
This is the tradition of the Prophet (s) and his Companions, the Tabi'een,
the Tabi' at-Tabi'een and the salaf as-salih after
them.

Shaykh Khatry gave a brief closing talk, in which he advised
the attendees to keep the fear of Allah, avoid delving into
politics which are of no one's concern and he asked the
forgiveness of all for any offense he may have made as a Beduin
among "civilized" people. His humility and decorum were
so impressive, many felt a great sadness at saying goodbye to
this exemplar of true Islam.